Moment of Nomadness Hands Win to Wantage

Hopperational details

Friday 8 October 2010 at Alfredian Park, Wantage Town 3 Oxford City Nomads 1 in the Step 5 Hellenic League Premier Division.  No randomness today - the only match taking place on my route to the North-West.

This match in one sentence

Oxford City Nomads, with ten men on the pitch, led at half-time through a penalty, but Wantage Town took the lead eventually with a penalty of their own and a very late third goal, to produce a flattering final score.

So what?

Wantage Town climb to 6th and stay in touch with the leading pack; Oxford City Nomads have conceded 60 league goals in 13 games with a goal difference of -39.  They remain the only team in their division without a drawn league match this season.

Who caught the eye on the pitch?

An as yet un-named yellow-booted #11 for Oxford City Nomads whose moment of madness led to a deserved red card and ensured that defeat would follow eventually.  As it happens, I was the nearest spectator and in my opinion the referee’s assistant was quite right to raise his flag for his off-the-ball trip of an opponent.  Richie Claydon’s decisive second-half spot-kick for Wantage Town was his fourth goal in four consecutive games.

The turning point of the game

This match had the same effect on my pulse rate as … 

… “It’ll Be All White Overnight”, a compilation of Pingu outtakes in which Denis Norden impersonates a classic “meh mehhhhh” moment of triumph and swallows a stunt herring for comic effect.

A snippet from the programme

A rare compliment for the referee in each of two match reports!  For example, referring to the FA Vase win over Shrivenham, “This was a well-fought cup-tie, played in the right spirit and excellently refereed by Mr Chris Williams, whose positive dialogue with the players throughout the game contributed to both the spirit and the flow of the game.”

What I learned today

Quarry Nomads of the Hellenic League (a name associated in history with “semi-savages”  from the workforce of Headington Quarry) became formally associated with Oxford City in 2005-6, and in their current form provide “a bridge between the Oxford City youth structure and the club’s Southern League (step 3) team.

What’s Next?

Morecambe v Shrewsbury Town in League Two to re-complete my “92” tomorrow afternoon and to meet up with a former pupil!